Wheelbarrow



Nov. 3. 1925. v 1,559,646

R. ROEMER I WHEELBARROW Filed May 14, 1923 2 Sheets-Shoe! i 3mm RR- Rosma Nov. 3, 1925 1,559,646

R. R. ROEME R WHBELBARROW File May 14. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I 7 Mi Patented Nov. 3, 1925 UNITED STATES PATENT (OFFICE.

RALPH a. ROEMER, or CLEVELAND, 01110, ASSIGNOR To THE; CLEVELAND WHEEL- ANY, OF CLEVELAND, 01110, A CORPORATION BARROW AND MANUFACTURING'COMP OF OHIO.

WHEELBARROW.

Application filed May 14, 1923. Serial N'o. 638,866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LRALPH R. RoEMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Wheelbarrow, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in wheelbarrows, and my primary object is to provide a wheelbarrow in which the parts are particularly constructed and arranged to facilitate their shipment and storage, to expedite theirassembly; and to promote inter-changeability of parts. A further gen eral object is to effect absolute rigidity of union between the parts when the parts are assembled, and to produce a wheelbarrow of extremely rugged construction although of a knock-down type and easily separable. More specifically stated my conception in- ,volves the making of a wheelbarrow in such a way that the manufacturer may assemble some of the parts and ship these as units capable of being conveniently handled and compactly nested or packed, and which units when received by the consignee will be in such form that separation and disassembly thereof will not be again required in order to set up and make a complete wheelbarrow. On the contrary the ideais to provide the consignee with a minimum number of preassemblecl units to enable him to quickly and conveniently put these pre-assembled units together without the service of trained or skilled persons, thereby effecting a saving in shipping charges and time and labor and expense in assembling a complete wheelbarrow at points remote from the place of manufacture. This makes the present wheelbarrow especially attractive and of value for foreign or export trade and in meeting world competition in this common class of goods, and in this connection it should be understood that wheelbarrows in general are constructed on old and acceptedlines, the present one included, except as hereinafter shown and described and morev concisely pointed out in the claims; v

In the annexed drawings, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my improved wheelbarrow. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the wheelbarrow with the tray removed. Figs. 8 and 4 are perspective views of two different forms of trays. Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross section of the wheelbarrow, showing a tray in dotted lines seated on a supplemental l tray bottom. F ig. 6 is a plan viewof the wheelbarrow without the tray, and Fig. 7

is a side elevation of the same Wheelbarrow These bearings have channeled flanges which i are adaptedto fit and seat snugly'upon the rabbeted underside of the handles and separate bolts 6 and 7 of different length extend upwardly through thehandles to secure the bearings in place. The longer front bolt 6 in each handle is also used to anchor 'a metal brace-8 to the handle for the sloping front end of the sheet-metal tray 9, the nut 5 10 for the bolt being at the upper end. of the bolt to facilitate attachment and detachment of this brace. Inanend dump barrow the handles are extended in front of the wheel and united together, and where .wood handles are used, a cast-metal member 11 extends across and connects the front ends thereof, see Fig. 6. Separatewood. tapering pieces 12 are also superposed uponthe handles to level the tray-horizontally, the normal slant of the handles being. upwardly from the wheel to the hand-grips when the barrow. is at rest on the legs 14. These, legs are preferably made of channel'ironhaving angularly-bent extremities 15 adaptedtofit the rabbeted underside of the handles'opposite the tapering pieces '12. Four bolts 16 extend throughregistering holes in the handles andtheir superposed pieces 12, and also through registeringholesin the, angular extremities 15 .ofthe legs as well ythr'ough two pairs of strap ironbracingmenibers 17 and 18, respectively, fexten din 1 transversely of the handles above and be ow, the'isame as clearly shown in Fig. 5. The rearvertical portion of the legs are rigidly braced and connected loy an angle ir0n19. and inclined struts 20 riveted to the legs and. to the angle iron.

I also prefer to span the space between the handles and to unite'them'more rigidly together by using a supplemental tray bottom 21 consisting of a fiat quadrangular platejof fastened thereon. Trays of different shape are'used' for different classes of work as partly exemplified in Figs. 3' and 4, but in nearly every instance the inclinedv sides of the tray overhangs the handles, and the trays are bulky and large, and subject to hard knocks and strains in dumping operations. Therefore, the tray must be securely fastened in place, and to accomplish that end and also permit the tray to be readily attached and detached, I provide the false bottom or flat plate 21 and the bottom of the tray itself with re istering bolt openings 25 and 26,:respective relatively near the corners thereof and spaced a short distance inward from the corner holes for'the four.

bolts. 16. Theiron straps 17 and 18 are also provided with bolt openings 27 a. short distance inwardly from the bolt holes in their ends so that four short bolts 28 may be inserted through the bottom of the tray, the false bottom plate 21, and thence through the openings 27 in the upper straps 17 where nuts 29 may be used to clamp the parts tightly together, as shown in Fig. 5,

However, a longer bolt may be used Instead of a short bolt 28 to also engage the 1 lower straps 18,, thereby even more effectively clamping all the parts together. It should be noted in this connection that the bolts 28 and the openings therefor are vertically aligned contiguousor in close relation to the inner side faces of the handle bars 2 whereby a rigid and strong union is assured and "th spreading strains and lateral blows may be favorably resisted. Furthermore, the nuts. 29 for bolts 28 are accessible to permit the tray to be quickly and conveniently attached and detached without detaching the legs or disturbing their fastening bolts or the bracing straps or the false bottom plate '21. The tray'may also be clamped tight and .flat upon this. bottom'plate 21 because the tray is rounded or slants upwardly at 30 at each side'of; itsjbottom to clear the round heads of the leg bolts 16 which project above pl'ate'21 andthe handle bars, see Fig. 5.

A wheelbarrow constructed as herein described permits the manufacturer of the wheelbarrow to assemble and securely unite the following parts together as a single shipping unit, to, wit, the handle bars 2, the tapering pieces 12, th straps 17 and 18, and

the false tray bottom '19, using bolts 16; and

the nuts 23.

these parts need not be separated when the consignee receivesthem but instead be used intact as pre-assembled to complete the wheelbarrow. In brief, this unit composed of the handle parts simplifies and expedites the putting together of the remaining wheel- 'interchangeof different kinds of trays. [Inter-changeability of the parts also permits a contractor to salvage and reconstruct old and worn wheelbarrows, of this kind, and

especially to replace old trays with new ones.

Now, referring to F lgs. 8 to 10, inclusive, the manufacturer fabricates and ships the handle assembly as a flat unit substantially as shown in Fig. 110, These flat units are capabl of being piled compactly. The leg units shown in Fig. 9 and trays such as shown in Fig. 8 form separate shipping units capable of being nested compactly. Uponv receipt of such units, the consignee may as a first step attach the tray to the handles upon the false tray bottom by means of'the four bolts 28. This is easily accomplished without in any way separating, changing or displacing any of the parts in the handle shipping unit. The next step is tounwire the wheel and attachv the front braces 8 to the tray and the handles. The tray and handle units are now rigidly tied together, and the whole structure is inverted to elevate the handles and bring their bottom sides into view and to an accessible work ingplane. The nuts 23 on the exposed ends of the bolts 16 are then removed, but these bolts con not drop nor be displaced because their heads rest upon the tray. The leg unit is now sleeved over the exposed ends of bolts 16 at the rabbeted sides of the handles and straps 18'slipped in place and fastened by its axle in'the bearings or journals, and the wheelbarrow is now completed and ready for use. Manifestly, the operation is simple and may be accomplished very quickly with the aid of a single wrench.

What I claim, is:

1. A wheelbarrow, comprising spaced handles having a pair of legs and bracing straps at their bottom sides, separate connecting straps and a plate seated on said connecting straps at the upper side of said barrow parts which are shipped separately The wheel is then placed on handles, bolts extending through said. plate, straps, legs and handles uniting them together, a tray removably seated upon said plate, and a separate set of bolts detachably securing said tray to said plate and straps at points relatively near said handles.

2. A wheelbarrow, comprising a pair of handles having tapering pieces superposed thereon, a pair of legs at the bottom of said handles below said pieces, cross connecting straps overlapping said legs and pieces and having bolt openings at their ends, bolts ex tending through all of said parts and uniting them rigidly together, a tray having bolt openings in its bottom, said straps having additional bolt-openings therein inwardly of the inner sides of and closely adjacent said handles and registering with the bolt 7 openings in said tray, and bolts and nuts adapted to detaohably clamp said tray to said straps.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature hereto.

RALPH R. ROEMER. 

